The U.S. telecommunications trade deficit with Japan has risen during the last decade, and some have alleged that Japan has engaged in "one-sided" trade and "unfair" competition. With a time frame starting in the late 1970s, this study addresses two overarching questions: How are trade relations between the two countries being affected by changes in the market structure and technological advances?......

Much debate surrounds the question of whether to allow telephone companies to deliver video services to subscribers in their service areas. Such an arrangement would raise issues about whether telephone companies should operate as video common carriers, entities free to supply video services as cable operators do today, or hybrids that combine common carrier services with the carrier maintaining l......

This study explores the potential consequences of recent decisions by the Federal Communications Commission to permit local telephone companies to compete with cable television operators and other video suppliers in providing video service. The goal of the study is to provide inputs useful to policymakers in their continuing deliberations about the rules under which telephone companies should be p......

This Note describes developments in telecommunications that may have a special bearing on choices about geographical location for business activities, and it offers some thoughts about possible broader effects on society. The study addresses six major areas to illustrate the evolution and growth of telecommunications services relevant to locational decisions: (1) aggregate measures of telecommunic......

This study examines the development of high-definition television (HDTV) within the context of trade relations between the United States and Japan. For several reasons, the development of HDTV has been a source of both cooperation and conflict between the two countries. The author examines these reasons and suggests ways the continued development of HDTV could affect each country's economic intere......

This report focuses on the characteristics of prices charged by international telecommunications carriers to their customers or "end users," and the arrangements by which carriers in separate countries compensate each other for handling portions of traffic that together permit end-to-end "retail" service. More specifically, the study examines the relationships between international telephone rates......

There has been a longstanding debate about the perverse incentives associated with the "cost plus" nature of rate-of-return (ROR) regulation. The notion of imposing price caps as a substitute for ROR regulation has attracted attention because it (1) severs the relationship between prices and costs and rewards a firm with the savings it achieves through efficiency; (2) severs the connection between......

In response to rising local telephone rates in recent years, many states have introduced telephone assistance programs to enable households to retain service and to extend service to those without it. Typically, these programs offer a substantial discount for service to households with incomes below a given level or eligible for benefits under specified welfare programs. This report offers guidanc......

The International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (INTELSAT) has been an important instrument of U.S. foreign policy because it has spread the benefits of advanced telecommunications technology to nations — especially developing nations — throughout the world. With the growing number of competing satellite systems, and the installation of transoceanic fiber optic cables, conc......

This Note explores possibilities that owners of satellite and undersea cable facilities invest in excess capacity as a strategy to deter competitive entry by outsiders. The situation is illustrated by the controversy about the ground rules under which new satellite systems should be permitted to compete with INTELSAT. The study concludes that (1) issues of predatory pricing will persist in interna......